Just the 'Dragnet' Facts

January 7, 2003

* Raymond Burr, later to become famous as Perry Mason, played Joe Friday's boss in the 1951 television pilot.

* The prelude to each episode -- "The story you are about to see is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent" -- was intoned first by George Fenneman (Groucho's factotum on "You Bet Your Life") and later by Hal Gibney.

* Stan Freberg's 1953 parody record, "St. George and the Dragonet," began, "The legend you are about to hear is true. Only the needle should be changed to protect the record."

* Following the prelude, Joe Friday would start the story by saying, "This is the city. Los Angeles, California. I work here. I'm a cop." Later, reacting to complaints from police officers, this was changed to "I carry a badge."

* Friday lived at home with his mother in the early episodes of the 1950s series.

* Webb and Harry Morgan, partners in the '60s version of "Dragnet," both played bad guys in the movies "Dark City" (1950) and "Appointment With Danger" (1951).

* Morgan appeared in the 1987 movie spoof of "Dragnet," again as Bill Gannon but promoted to captain.

* Friday's badge number was 714, said to commemorate the number of career home runs hit by Babe Ruth, one of Webb's heroes. It is also said to be from Webb's mother's birthday (July 14). "Dragnet" reruns were titled "Badge 714."

* Frank Smith's badge number was 613; Bill Gannon's, 4848.

* "Mark VII," the name of Webb's production company, which appeared at the end of each episode with a big sweaty hand bringing a hammer down on a die, had no particular meaning.

* Friday got demoted. By the end of the 1950s series, he had gone from sergeant to lieutenant, but in the 1960s series he was a sergeant again.